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down on the farm

It’s been a while. Sadly, I was not on my dream European vacation. I just had a lot on my plate and decided to take a little virtual break. We’ve had a lot to do around here the last couple of weeks, and there is still so much more that needs to be done. Isn’t that always the case. Oh well, at least no one ever complains about being bored.

I’ll see if I can remember everything. The alfalfa is in — that is huge. Our front yard is not longer a giant plain of cow poop — it’s poop with little sprouts.

I can’t tell you how happy I was when I saw those sprouts. All of that work. All of that time. It may be silly, but the alfalfa is constantly in our prayers.

Greg worked super duper hard this week and got the winter rye planted in the rest of the front yard. Phoenix is weird. You have pretty winter grass and nasty summer grass. I’m just glad we’ll have grass period.

Grow baby, grow.

Next step — flowers, shrubs, and shutters and project front yard completed. I get giddy thinking about it.

See how sad it looks. I don’t think we’ll be having any corn of the cob this season. Oh well, the chickens have been enjoying the stalks that have completely fallen over. Boo.

The rest of the garden is doing okay, but progressing slowly. We planted a few weeks later than we had intended, and while things are growing, I’m not sure how much they will actually produce.

We’ll have to wait and see. I’m glad that we’re learning how to do this now when there are still grocery stores around with food. I’m not sure that will always be the case.

The animals are all doing well. The baby bunnies get bigger every day. They are so dang cute.

They’re even eating regular food now. I know Joy is glad about that.

Speaking of babies, we had some new ones move in.

Oh man, baby chicks are so fun even if they are noisy. I don’t know how people can name them. I can’t tell them apart (within their breeds that is — I’m not a complete idiot). Anyway, I decided to give each breed a name. All the chickens within that breed have the same name. The Barred Rocks are all named Meg (Barred Rocks are from New England, Meg in honor of Little Women). The Rhode Island Reds are all named Providence (self explanatory). The Buff Orpingtons are all named Afton (just because — they reminded me of fall in Wyoming. Afton is a small town in Wyoming). The White Leghorns are all named Lizzie (another just because. I like Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice). Last but not least, the Cuckoo Marans are all named Marie (they’re French, so Marie Antoinette). Tah-dah.

Oh, and here’s the big news — we finally started getting regular eggs this week. Hurray. We’re getting about two a day. Nothing like the 7 we were getting before, but we’re happy. At first the girls we’re having trouble figuring out where to lay, so we put ping pong balls in all the boxes to help them out. I saw it on the web, and thought, this is stupid, but what the heck. I’ll be darned, it worked.